25 March 2015

The jeweller's saw can be very very fine. This one is about half a millimetre, so its relatively chunky!
Most jewellers have several tell-tale scars on the left index finger- from those accidental saw cuts. One lapse of concentration and this very thin blade slices to the bone!

20 February 2015

Do you take time to think about where an object comes from, and how it is made?

The rough blue sapphire was especially chosen by the bride-to-be, (imagine a girl in a lolly shop...) and then skilfully ground and polished, facet by facet- by a man who lives geometry- Doug Menadue of Bespoke Gems, Sydney. Apparently, the land where this stone was found is now closed to prospectors, making it all the more rare.
I was really excited to be able to bring together a fully Australian ensemble- this adds real value to the provenance, because many gems, (including Australian diamonds and sapphires!)- are cut in India, Bangladesh and Thailand, likely under working conditions that would be unacceptable in the West.
It would make a bride weep if she knew. But not this bride!

Did you know? -Although this stone is a sapphire, the long octagonal shaped cut is called an 'emerald cut'- because it was developed to best show the colour of an emerald. Nowadays it remains a popular shape for diamonds and sapphires, as well as the eponymous emerald.

3 October 2014

This ring was a custom request for a variation on my Newen Days ring with spidery turquoise and an arc of jasper. The gold was recycled. The customer's fiancé found the red jasper on a field trip - I love that kind of personal significance. It was tricky to cut in this shape though!

15 August 2014

A ring designed to rhyme with your finger bones. But not too precise. It has a warmth.
You can buy this 9k gold version from The Golden Smith Shop.
Also available in silver, platinum or 22k gold by request.

19 June 2014

All thats left of this game is the bone bits. I wonder if the missing tiles were wood. It is some kind of egyptian checkers- Im guessing the object is to get your pieces to the other end(?). Very sculptural.
British Museum.

5 May 2014

Here's a rarity:
A Hermann Jünger brooch, 1960/70 at auction. (auctionata)
Also a rarity- a chance to see the back! Something I have never seen.
Jünger's maker's mark is a standing bird- and looks to me as though he's engraved the stamp himself-
a nice touch.
I was not expecting to see the square wire framework supporting the composition- very interesting.
There's a freeness in the face composition, and then a lot of formal, organised work to hold it together underneath.
There is always lots of things going on in a Jünger piece;
claw-setting, bezel setting, enamelling, granulation, fusing- a kind of playful game, mixing things up...
you'll see an emerald next to green glass, ivory next to white enamel.

27 January 2014

24 January 2014

I love working with pure gold- not typically used for today's jewellery, being somewhat softer than the lower alloys, but the trick is to make it proportionally hefty, then it is very robust, and… well…

7 October 2013

A pair of earrings I made today. The design has in mind a methodology that doesnt require sanding or polishing, mainly just shearing and flame-work (a bit like etruscan?). I would love to make these in 22k gold (of course!) Please contact me if you'd like a pair in gold.
The silver version is available in The Golden Smith Shop. US$250

Here is the method:

First, roll out silver to a thin sheet, using rolling mills.

Cut out discs, then petals. I use scissors for this- snips or saw would be too awkward.

Flatten and texturise the flowers on a rough anvil, with an antique hammer.

Scribe lines on petals using a double-pointed tool and on a heavy paper pad to allow the right amount of push-out.

Close-up of said tool. I fashioned this from a broken twist drill and hold it in a pin vice.

Dome the shapes using a wooden punch and matrix.

I dont use steel versions of these tools as these would probably spread the already-thin material.

I also stone-washed (not shown) these components to de-burr the edges.

Little backing cups are made using the same method.

All components, including ear wires are organised for assembly.

The backing cups are soldered to the ear wires. Soldering (not shown) is done under an exhaust hood and I also wear a respirator- to protect myself from potential fume hazards.

The flowers have holes punched through their centres, and are attached to backing-cups with a ball rivet. These rivets are formed from short lengths of wire with little heads melted on each end- and will allow the flowers to move a little.

A hot little flame is needed to quickly melt this rivet-head without heating the adjacent solder join

-which has a lower melting temperature. In other words, if you do this wrong, the whole lot melts together... or falls off!

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat... Repeat!

Assembly complete.

Bend assemblage into earring configuration, with ear-hooks.

Looking a little grey at this point, I immerse them in a bath of citric acid,

which brings them to a bright colour.

I burnish the ear-hooks to be bright and smooth, and give them a soapy wash.